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8.39am
ADF chief apologises for defence failures at royal commission
The chief of the Australian Defence Force has apologised to personnel and veterans for the military’s failures, while pledging to do better.
General Angus Campbell gave evidence at the final public hearing day for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
“Our people deserve and should rightly expect the support and care they need both during and after their service,” he said.
Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“I acknowledge that this has not always been the case, and tragically it’s led to the deaths by suicide of some of our people.
“Defence is committed, and I am committed to doing better.
“I apologise unreservedly for these deficiencies.”
General Campbell said the courage displayed by those who came forward to share their experiences was deeply admirable.
“I sincerely appreciate the efforts of those who have contributed to my learning and our deeper understanding of suicide and suicidality and its enduring aftermath,” he said.
The defence force chief will be the sole witness to appear at the commission today, which will conclude in Sydney.
8.20am
PM defends trying to rush through deportation laws
By Olivia Ireland
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended trying to rush through new laws that could jail people for up to five years if they refuse to co-operate with moves to deport them because they fear persecution in their birth country.
Speaking on 2SM radio, Albanese said the reason the government decided to act quickly was because they identified the loophole and wanted to act quickly.
“We’re making sure that Australia’s migration system works effectively and there’s a loophole there,” he said this morning.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during question time on Wednesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“You can’t have a situation whereby someone can come here on a tourist visa, for example, and just say, I’m not going, I’m not leaving.”
Albanese accused the Coalition of playing politics by teaming up with the Greens to block the legislation and disagreed when asked told the government gave a briefing in a short timeframe.
“We gave appropriate briefings to the opposition, to crossbenchers, this is clear legislation that is required. The opposition voted for it on Tuesday and voted against it on Wednesday. They voted for it because of the policy, they voted against it because they want to play politics.”
8.00am
Victorian government to introduce tobacco licensing scheme
By Broede Carmody
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has just announced her government will implement a tobacco licensing scheme, bringing Victoria in line with other states.
The illegal tobacco crackdown will be brought before parliament in the second half of this year and comes after several high-profile fire bombings of Melbourne tobacco stores.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan.Credit: Nine News
“We’ve got to remember that smoking remains the most significant contributor in our community to poor health outcomes,” Allan told ABC Radio Melbourne a few minutes ago, adding that there had also been “terrible” incidents on main streets.
“[Victoria Police has] got a dedicated task force to get in, and they are making arrests. They are acting on this sort of illegal behaviour and the introduction of a licensing scheme will help reinforce that work.”
Allan said there wouldn’t be a cap on the number of tobacco store licenses, but they would have to meet strict conditions. The premier added that it was too soon to say who would police the new rules.
Victoria is the only state not to have a licensing scheme despite an official report recommending one back in 2022.
7.57am
Scrymgour says last intervention wasn’t ‘targeted’ in NT
Circling back to Marion Scrymgour, the MP for Lingiari in the Northern Territory, who called for a national cabinet meeting on youth issues and said interventions in the past weren’t targeted.
She told ABC Radio National the intervention in the territory wasn’t targeted the last time it happened.
“The last time we had an intervention [it] wasn’t targeted, and looked at the wrong areas”.
The Lingiari MP pointed to the Little Children are Sacred report, and said it highlighted issues with alcohol were prevalent in urban centres.
Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour wants national cabinet to meet about youth issues.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Scrymgour said at the time, federal authorities didn’t want to go into urban areas and tackle the issue.
“It was easier to do it in remote communities – even there were existing restrictions in remote communities,” she said.
She said during her three years in Alice Springs she didn’t remember a time where there wasn’t “volatility and unrest”.
“We can’t just keep doing the knee-jerk response all the time,” she said.
The MP said the issue was happening across the Northern Territory, and other parts of Australia.
“I think it’s time for maybe national cabinet to convene with the first ministers of each state and territory to start looking at the issues of youth across this country,” she said.
Scrymgour said there “absolutely” needed to be a nationally coordinated approach to youth crime.
7.40am
Multicultural leaders shocked by immigration proposals
By Matthew Knott and Angus Thompson
Baffled, blindsided and distressed. That’s how Ali Elliin says members of the Iranian-Australian community feel about the Albanese government’s proposed immigration changes that could ban their extended family members and friends from entering the country.
Under the changes, the immigration minister could prevent foreigners from particular countries from entering Australia, even as tourists, if their home country refuses to accept the return of failed asylum seekers.
Ali Elliin and his wife Sohila at their home in Sydney.Credit: James Brickwood
Iran, Iraq, Russia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe are the countries most likely to be targeted as “removal concern countries”.
“We didn’t expect the Australian government to do anything like this,” said Elliin, director of the Aknoon Cultural Centre, which provides social and cultural services for Sydney’s Iranian diaspora.
Here’s more on this issue.
7.27am
Plibersek wants to move past ‘scattergun’ approach to water resources
Earlier, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek spoke about working with the states and territories about water access.
The National Water Initiative started 20 years ago, but Plibersek told ABC Radio National it needed to be updated after a review found it needed to explicitly recognise climate change as a factor.
Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“I think this gives us a really good opportunity to work with the states and territories to update our expectations,” Plibersek said.
“It means that we can look at climate resilient water management, much more evidence-based decision-making, and of course, really transparent and strategic water investments rather than … a scattergun approach to a dam here or there.”
The minister said the states and territories had to work together on water resources.
7.09am
Birmingham lashes government’s deportation bill
Turning now to the opposition’s foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham, who is speaking about the defeat of the Albanese government’s latest deportation laws in the Senate.
The Coalition united with the Greens and other crossbenchers to defer the bill introduced to the House to a Senate inquiry, defeating Labor’s attempt to ram it through in less than two days.
If passed, the laws would allow the immigration minister to direct a person the government is trying to deport to co-operate with all efforts to remove them, threatening up to five years in jail if they don’t comply.
The opposition’s foreign affairs spokesman, Simon Birmingham.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Birmingham was questioned on whether the Coalition would accept responsibility if the High Court ordered more people to be released from immigration detention because they failed to pass the laws.
“That would be a preposterous situation, there has been no link drawn by the government to suggest the passage of these laws would have any bearing on a High Court case that may be determined in a few weeks,” he said.
The bill was lodged on Tuesday, in the last parliamentary sitting period before a High Court hearing on April 17 which will determine whether people refusing to co-operate with deportation orders should be released into the community.
The Liberal senator was asked if it would be the High Court who would be responsible if more detainees were released, or would the Coalition hold the government to account on it.
Birmingham said they would see what the verdict was.
“But if we come back to this legislation the government has not established there was a valid urgency for this legislation, nor have they been able to answer valid questions in relation to it,” he said.
“The last couple of occasions when the government has sought to put forward urgent legislation and to the parliament in relation to migration law, what’s transpired is they have failed to actually even use that urgent legislation appropriately.”
6.50am
‘Pretty desperate situation’ in Alice Springs, Scrymgour says
Federal Labor MP for Lingiari, in the Northern Territory, Marion Scrymgour has spoken about the youth curfew put in place for Alice Springs last night, after a spate of violent incidents in the community.
The two-week curfew is designed to stop people aged under 18 gathering in the town’s CBD between 6pm and 6am.
“I think for some weeks [there’s] been a lot of unrest in the town and particularly amongst young people,” Scrymgour said this morning on ABC’s RN Breakfast.
Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour in federal parliament.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The MP said the violence has been increasingly steadily over a number of weeks, and the government had to do something.
She was asked if the Australian Defence Force should be called in to help tackle the issue in the community, which NT senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price called for.
Scrymgour said she believed the 53 extra police who will be sent to the town will help.
“I think it’s time for all sides to stop playing politics with this issue, it’s too important,” she said.
The MP said they needed to make sure resources were in place to ensure people can feel safe, and one step was making sure alcohol licences were being checked.
“I think it will be assisted by the curfew, it’s a pretty desperate situation,” she said.
According to NT police, the violence began when a large group of people from the Utopia district north of Alice Springs arrived in town to commemorate the death of an 18-year-old man who was killed on March 8 when the stolen car he was travelling in rolled over.
The group attacked other family members in the pub, which sustained $30,000 of damage after being pelted with rocks and bricks. Another brawl broke out nearby later that evening.
6.39am
Alice Springs declares emergency, youth curfew in place
By Ben Cubby
In case you missed it, the Northern Territory government declared an emergency yesterday, and imposed a two-week curfew in Alice Springs.
The curfew aims to stop people younger than 18 from gathering in the CBD between 6pm and 6am.
Northern Territory police will send 58 additional officers to the town. There will be no criminal penalty for breaking the curfew, police said.
The curfew was imposed after a violent brawl earlier this week, when a group of young people attacked the Todd Tavern in Alice Springs. Three people have been arrested so far.
According to police, the violence began when a large group of people from the Utopia district north of Alice Springs arrived in town to commemorate the death of an 18-year-old man who was killed on March 8 when the stolen car he was travelling in rolled over.
Labor’s MP for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour, will go into more detail about the situation on ABC’s Radio National shortly.
6.20am
States need to work with Commonwealth to ensure NDIS success: Bonyhady
National Disability Insurance Scheme architect Professor Bruce Bonyhady has spoken about proposals to change the scheme, to save it money and make states pay more.
It comes as state and territory leaders stepped up their rebellion over the federal government’s plan to overhaul the $42 billion scheme, claiming they have no idea about the costs they could be up for and have been sidelined in the process.
Bonyhady told RN Breakfast this morning all levels of government needed to work together for the success of the scheme.
Professor Bruce Bonyhady was an architect of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and carried out a review into the scheme.Credit: Oscar Colman
“What I hope will emerge from this is a continuation of what we have seen for well over a decade now, which is all governments and all political parties working together to make sure this scheme continues to not only be successful but to thrive and change people,” he said.
He said legislation was entirely consistent with the review he led, which seeks to make the multi-billion dollar scheme more sustainable.
“We believe we can move to a system where people with disability, whether they’re children or young adults or adults will receive support based on need.
“What we have at the moment is deeply unfair, it’s unfair if you’re not on the NDIS because it’s a desert out there, and if you’re in the NDIS there has not been consistency of decision-making that is needed,” he said.
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